23 Percent of Moms Own Smart Speakers, Up 283% Since Early 2017

It is Mother’s Day in the U.S., the annual occasion filled with greeting cards, flowers and restaurant visits. In the spirit of the holiday, Edison Research and Triton Digital have released new survey data showing that 23% of Moms in the U.S. own smart speakers. That is up 283% since early 2017 when just 6% owned a device. Edison and Triton identify “Moms” as a woman with a child under 18 years old living in the same household. So, this doesn’t include mothers with adult children.

The growth rate is impressive and the data show other interesting findings. Twenty-one percent of Moms own one of the Amazon Echo smart speakers and 4% own a Google Home, while 2% indicate that they own devices both manufacturers. Another obvious conclusion is that Moms in the U.S. overwhelmingly have chosen, or received as a gift, Amazon Alexa enabled smart speakers by a margin of more than five-to-one. That exceeds overall smart speaker ownership disparities which show Amazon Echo’s market share lead today at about four-to-one over Google. Put another way, Amazon has an 84% to 16% lead with Moms over Google compared to about a 75% to 25% lead among the total U.S. population.

It is also noteworthy that Moms have higher smart speaker ownership rates than the general population and higher levels of awareness. During the same period in January an Edison Survey of U.S. adults reported only 18% smart speaker ownership. That means Moms are 28% more likely to own a smart speaker than the national average. Smart speaker awareness by Moms also exceed the national average by about 11% for Amazon Echo and 10% for Google Home.

Shopping and Kids

Amazon’s dominance in smart speaker market share among Moms is no doubt influencing overall Alexa strategy. The Edison study also found that 54% of Moms in the survey group were Amazon Prime members. Amazon is pushing features such as easy ordering and daily deals for voice shopping. In addition, Amazon also recently released the Echo for Kids edition which includes some parental controls and access to the Free Time Unlimited entertainment package for children.

By now, everyone that follows the voice and AI industries is well aware of Amazon’s “Alexa Everywhere” strategy. We are now seeing a refinement of that strategy and Moms could be a big part of it. Amazon wants Alexa to own the home and is doing its best to make Amazon either competitive or integrated into other areas of life. The company announced Alexa for Business last year, but also demonstrated integration with Microsoft Cortana for enterprise users this past week. Alexa is also entering the car, but will co-exist alongside Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Look for more Amazon Alexa features that help the entire households and Moms in particular.